Greenwire January 9, 2003
HAZWASTE: NAVY FIRES DEPLETED URANIUM RODS OFF WASHINGTON COAST
Environmental and peace groups angered at the Navy's practice of firing depleted-uranium (DU) rods off the coast of Washington during military training are considering filing an injunction to stop the practice.
All branches of the armed services use the rods for their ability to pierce armor. The Navy uses the rods in its Phalanx anti-missile-defense system, firing 3,000 rods a minute to knock down incoming missiles. The possible environmental effects have received mixed reviews. Navy officials say the rods that drop in the oceans pose no danger. It says the DU rods are 40 percent less radioactive than naturally occurring uranium found in seawater.
But soldiers and civilians who have come in contact with the rods fear health effects from the toxic metal. Iraqi doctors associate Iraq's increases in cancer and birth defects following the Gulf War with the rods fired at tankers. And European countries accuse the United States of not being open about potential health risks. The North Atlantic Trade Organization declined to ban DU rods in January 2001, primarily because the United States advocates for the continued use.
Environmental attorney Dave Mann asked, "How can the Navy fire depleted-uranium rounds and spread radioactive material into prime fishing areas off our coast?"
Patrick Garrett, an associate analyst at the think tank GlobalSecurity.org: "The science is not clear here. The military tells you these things are OK unless you're on the receiving end of this weapon, but civilians and other doctors and scientists have been looking at this issue and screaming bloody murder about it for a long time, and it's not readily apparent what the long-term health impacts are" (Rivera/Welch, Seattle Times, Jan. 9).
When a DU rod hits its target, as much as 70 percent of it can burn on impact, creating a fine ceramic uranium dust-like rain. Once airborne, the contaminants can infiltrate humans, plants and animals and become part of the food chain. The U.N. Environmental Program says DU can create up to a hundredfold increase in uranium levels in ground water.
"It just makes sense that if DU can contaminate land and get into the food chain, then it would do the same thing in the sea," said Glen Milner of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action, one of the groups considering a lawsuit.
"How would the Navy feel about eating fish caught" off the coast of Washington, asked Robert Alverson, president of the Fishing Vessel Owners Association in Seattle. "If any species ever turns up with radiation, it would be devastating to the fishing industry" (Larry Johnson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Jan. 9). -- MV
Copyright © 2003 E & E Publishing, LLC
